Following on from last Wednesday’s screening of Get Out (2017), as part of our Horror Film Season this October, I’ll be showing The People Under The Stairs(15) (1991) next Wednesday at Queen St Brewhouse at 7:30pm. The People Under The Stairs is a horror comedy film written and directed by Wes Craven (Nightmare On Elm Street, 1984) and starring Brandon Adams, Everett McGill, Wendy Robie, Ving Rhames and A. J. Langer. The plot follows a young boy and two thieves who break into a house owned by the neighbourhood’s landlord and discover a dark secret hidden beneath the house. Wes Craven’s classic film is widely recognised as an underrated gem in the horror genre and his body of work.

In a local community in the heart of Los Angeles,
California, a young African-American boy called Poindexter “Fool” Williams (Brandon Adams) and his family are close to being evicted by their white landlords Eldon Robeson (Everett McGill) and Mrs. Robeson (Wendy Robie). A friend of Fool’s family Leroy (Ving Rhames) suggests that he and an associate of his, along with Fool’s help, break into the Robeson’s house to steal a collection of gold coins to save Fool’s family and his dying mother. When Fool breaks into the house, he finds himself trapped inside due to the Robeson’s extra security and learns about the couple’s dark and sinister lifestyle. As Fool seeks a way out, he meets Alice (A. J. Langer), the Robeson’s daughter, who tries to help him escape.

According to director Wes Craven, The People Under The Stairs was inspired by a real-life story about two thieves who broke into a house and discovered two children who had been held captive. The irony of the situation intrigued Craven, where the burglers were not the real monsters but the family they targeted who looked ordinary on the surface. This formed the basis of the film’s story about corruption hidden within a wealthy facades including themes of gentrification, racism and class disparity. Jonny Coleman of LA Weekly called the film “a satire of late capitalism specifically in an L.A. run ragged by the free market of the ’80s and the violence it created” and compared the Robeson’s to the Reagans. On a director’s commentary track for the film’s Blu Ray release in 2015, Craven describes the Robeson’s house as representing “the whole society of the United States”.